My Little Pad

Giveaway!

2011-03-20T14:09:00.003Z

Visit my Stampin' Up! blog here for a giveaway...and also to see my new cute owl!
(ETA: The draw has now closed)

40th Birthday Card

2010-10-20T09:03:00.004+01:00

Here is the birthday card I made for a fellow crafting friend called Sharon.

Details of what I used to make the card are on my Stampin' Up! blog here.

It is her 40th Birthday today and to celebrate she has some blog candy on her blog.

You can wish her a happy birthday and visit her here.

New Stampers 10 club starting soon....

2010-08-07T13:38:00.004+01:00

Being in a Stampers 10 group is such a great way to build up your Stampin' Up! collection, spread the costs and BENEFIT as a hostess without having an actual party.

Join my new group which starts in October and you will receive a copy of the NEW catalogue which will have new hostess sets to choose from!!!

If you are intersted in joining my Stampers 10 Club then contact me.

Click on poster for detailed image

Stampin' Up! Craft and Stamp Camp

2010-07-06T12:51:00.002+01:00

Fiona and I are delighted to announce the date for our first Craft and Stamp Camp on Saturday 4th September 2010 in Fraserburgh.

I hope you can join us for a day filled with creativity and fun!
Contact me or Fiona to book your place.

Hope to see you there...x

Click on poster for a detailed image.

Colour Combo Special Offer

2010-06-06T18:18:00.004+01:00

See here for a great offer I have put together to coincide with the Stampin' Up! New Colour blog hop.

New Colours Blog Hop

2010-06-06T10:07:00.001+01:00

Join me at my other blog here for a blog hop!!

Heritage Layouts

2010-05-05T21:23:00.006+01:00

Whilst looking through the stored photos on my PC for upgrading my sidebar galleries I came across a few layouts that I made for the album my sisters and I gave to our mum for her 60th birthday.

I find heritage photos very difficult to scrap as I am naturally drawn towards bright colours. In most of them the layout and embellishments were kept very simple.

The baby in this photo is my granny and she is standing at the right hand side of the photo below this one.

I am the baby in this photo.

The layout of my grandparents wedding was a scraplift of an earlier layout I made of my two boys titled Boys Can Be Angels Too.

My mum and her sister

Two separate layouts of my parent's wedding.

The double LO of Graceland was a scraplift of a LO I saw on the two peas gallery. I will find the original and come back with a link.

Thanks for looking
x

Scrapbooking!

2010-05-03T19:01:00.004+01:00

Here are some layouts that I made whilst at the Elgin craft weekend back in March. I have still to add photos of our weekend away! Something else on the "to do" list LOL

Meeting Donald
Papers used are Lemongrass by Crate Paper
Letters are Papermania

Heartbreaker
Papers used are Jillybean Soup (I think, could be October Afternoon or something else I will check).

The small dotty paper is Prima Marketing.

Flowers made by drawing circles freehand which were cut out, crushed, inked then held together with a brad near the centre.

Summer Rain
Papers are Rusty Pickle
Hidden photos behind the main photo.

Thanks for looking
x

EXCITING NEWS!!!!!

2010-05-01T23:51:00.005+01:00

I am now a Stampin Up Demonstrator!

Yes I finally took the plunge! Better late than never!!

I have a new blog for Stampin' Up! news and will keep this blog primarily for personal use.

You can find my new blog THE INK PAD here.

Mystery Kit Layout

2010-05-01T20:55:00.005+01:00

As part of the UKS Monopoly Cybercrop I purchased a mystery kit from Indigo Mills who supplied the Top Hats kits.
It is always nervy opening the box as you never know what is going to be inside but I was delighted with the contents! Stephanie had selected items based on the theme "Tea at Park Lane"

Here is the layout I created.

I used a lot of the papers in the kit but had to use them carefully so that I could get full use of them. I removed any paper that was behind a layer unseen so that I could utilise it elsewhere on the kit.

I hand cut the shaped paper from the pale blue and cream checked paper. The back of this paper was cream with a small patterned piece in the centre so I used that for the title letters which I then doddled with black pen. The letters were cut using the Cricut (Plantin Schoolbook and Zooballoo).

In the middle of the red polka dot framed paper was a deep red plain section which I used for stamping a Blonde Moments heart on to with black ink which I then filled with glossy accents and raised on the LO with foam dots.

Thanks for looking.

Pall Mall and Property Ladder

2010-04-30T12:42:00.005+01:00

Two more classes that I did at last weekend's UKS cybercrop were Pall Mall by Angela from Angel Crafts and the Property Ladder by Di Oliver who owns Tando.
Both projects use Tando chipboard and of course I just love Tando chippie!!

Pall Mall
I bought the kit from Angel Crafts for doing her class and followed it exactly.
I just adore the finished wreath. I have had my eye on buying these for a while so am just delighted with it.

Property Ladder
Di's house is absolutely fantastic and she very cleverly created a hidden mini concertina album inside it. I also love how she used the swing from the tree as a handle for accessing the album. Her one can be found here.

I decided that as I have so many lovely halloween papers that I would use them on this project. I can't stroke the papers forever and by using them on a home decor project they can be admired for a lot longer than in an album LOL

Papers and Die cuts are all My Minds Eye from the Boo To You collection.

I painted the house inside and out in black acrylic paint then I sprayed with a pearl mister that was made using one drop of Distress Ink reinker (Broken China), water and Blonde Moments pearl pigments (Jay's Champagne).

The roof was painted in lettuce Adirondack Dabber then stamped with a Stampin Up polka dot stamp. The scallop trim was punched with a Stampin Up border punch.

I filled the mini album with photographs taken when we went to Mickeys-Not-So-Scary-Halloween-Party in Florida last October and also from Hallowen at home.

My one can also be seen on the Tando Creative blog here.

Bow Street and Angel Islington

2010-04-28T21:12:00.006+01:00

Two classes that I did at the recent cybercrop on UKS were Bow Street by Gertie and Angel Islington by Angie

I thoroughly enjoyed both classes so thanks to both designers for creating fab classes. I was thrilled when Gertie picked my layout as the winner for her class too - that was totally unexpected.

Here are my layouts.

Bow Street
Papers used are mainly October Afternoon.
Die cuts are October Afternoon.
The Lucky rub-on is by Rhonna Farrer.
The Cherish stamp is Creative Cafe.

Angel Islington
Papers used are Scenic Route and Bo Bunny.
CS is Kraft.

Thanks for looking.
x

Monopoly Cybercrop

2010-04-25T18:21:00.005+01:00

This weekend was cybercrop weekend over on UK Scrappers and as usual I had a great time. I especially liked that so many of my fellow Scottish friends took part too - it was fun having the banter between classes.

My canvas class Mayfair, was well received and I was thrilled that so many took part especially as it was the last class (last street on the board LOL) and that it was a time consuming class.

I will be back later with photos of the classes that I took part in but for now here is my class and instructions.

A PDF fle with instructions can be downloaded from UKS here.

Thanks for looking
xxx

How Could I forget.....?

2010-04-06T09:47:00.003+01:00

Can't believe that in yesterday's post I forgot to mention that in the midle of March I organised a small weekend retreat in Elgin, Scotland!

Like last year it was fabulous, great company, loads of laughs as well as plenty eating, drinking, chatting with some crafting too.

I will be back later with photographs.

Who Pinched March??

2010-04-05T15:58:00.006+01:00

Oh my goodness March has just whizzed past in the blink of an eye! I have been overwhelmingly busy and am hoping that April is much calmer and slower paced!!

The main thing that has occupied my time in March is that my husband and I have decided to build a new house at the edge of our town. We have chosen a plot of ground that we like and have almost picked a house design. I will update my blog once I have new news.

Yesterday I came back from a week's holiday in Tunisia which was amazing. We had a very relaxing and wonderful week and came home last night. I am still feeling "floaty" today as it usually takes me a couple of days to get back in to a routine etc. Lots of washing to dry and typically it is raining!

Just before I went on holiday I was invited by Scrappy Bunny over on UK Scrappers if I would design a class for the upcoming Monopoly cybercrop. Time was very tight for me as it left me three evenings to design, make and photograph it as well as write out the instructions, supply list etc but I managed it!! I am overwhelmed at being asked, excited but also very nervous too! I hope that peeps like it.

The April challange for Vanilla Sugar went live whilst I was on holiday too. The theme for April is Birds and Birdhouses.

I made a gift box for holding Easter treats in the shape of a birdhouse. It is approximately 13cm high and 11cm wide with a depth of 4cm. It is made from cardstock which I stamped (base) and embossed (roof) in a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The window was punched using a circle punch and then acetate was added inside to stop the eggs from falling out. The front was decorated with a Prima paper bird, ribbon and a sentiment. This is a quick and easy gift box that I am sure will be appreciated by the recipient.

I am having to work from my laptop just now as the main PC is getting upgraded however when I get it back I will scan the template I made for the birdhouse and upload too.

Oh and very sheepishly I have to admit that I failed miserably with keeping up with the month of March for the 365day art journalling challenge. I think I did about 7 days but I didn't make the background either. I did however do February's but I have not photographed them yet. Hopefully I can pick up in April and I might just do a summary for the month of March seeing as there was so much to write about too!!

Vanilla Sugar March Challenge

2010-03-01T10:18:00.009Z

The challenge for March over on the Vanilla Sugar, Sweetly Handmade blog is to create a Fabric Mini Album. Do pop over and see what all the design team have made, the albums are so different and are all beautiful. I hope that lots of people are inspired to take part in this challenge.

Here is my design team entry.

To make the minibook I cut pieces of chipboard 5" x 5" and covered them with squares of fabric. I sewed very close to the chipboard edges with a running stitch and then used a pinking shears to trim around the edges. To make the circular pages I used old CDs and covered them with fabric in the same way that I did the square pages.

I used 8mm eyelet and washers, purchased from a haberdashery store to reinforce the holes. The whole album was then bound with three book rings and adorned with a lush assortment of bright ribbons.

The mini book shows photos of us at Florida last October, I used tacky glue to fix them in place as DST and Herma won't stick to fabric. The assortment of stickers are by 7 gypsies and the die cuts and journalling cards are by October Afternoon.

The inside of the book.

Thanks for looking.

Early or Late for Halloween?

2010-02-13T15:48:00.002Z

With this project I am either 4 months late or 8 months early! However I am going to opt for 8 months early so I can feel good about being so organised LOL. Mind you I often make things out of season just because I feel like it and that is what happened when I received this Cat shaped piece of chipboard from Tando Creative.

I really wanted to make this cat in to something Halloween themed so chose to decorate a candlestick.

To decorate the cat I applied Viva Decor Ferro paste in charcoal and stamped with a Tim Holtz stamp to make the texture. I dried it with a heat gun to also give a bubbled effect. Once dry I painted black paint in to the grooves and then rubbed off the top layer of paint so that the Ferro showed through. I lightly sponged some silver acrylic paint over the top and finished off by rubbing on some pearl grey and berry metallic paints on parts. The Tando chipboard is so thick it really does take any medium you put on it!

The candlestick was originally black however I coloured it with alcohol inks to make it more purple and mottled. The paper tag is made with Rusty Pickle paper and the circles attached to wire are stamped with Papertrey Ink Halloween Tag stamps and punched out.

Thanks for looking....x

Home Minibook

2010-02-04T21:44:00.004Z

I have been crafting with lovely Tando Creative products again as DT work. I have a few Tando goodies to play with but decided to decorate this lovely 6x6" Crooked Home minibook.

I wanted to make a shaker feature of the apperture created when the house shape was removed so first I drew around the house window on to a piece of patterned paper and cut out with a craft knife. (I did not glue the cover on at this stage). I then adhered a piece of clear acetate over the apperture on the front of the book taking care to put plenty DST around the house edge. I turned the book over then poured some dedazzle beads in to the shape and adhered another piece of clear acrylic over the back. Once this was secure I covered each side of the cover with patterned paper carefully matching up the house shape that I had cut from the paper earlier. I cut around the edges and letters using a craft knife. The remaining five pages of chipboard were covered with co-ordinating paper. All edges were sanded and inked to finish.

I made some extra pockets and tags for the inside of the album. The minibook comes un-punched to give the end user various options for binding. I decided to bind mine with the Bind It All and 1.25" wires as I wanted to make use of the wires for decoration. I covered the chipboard house with paper, added a rub-on, punched a hole in the roof and attached it to the wires with a ball chain.

I have not decided on photos for the album yet but when it has been filled I will post some more pictures. This book would also make an ideal gift for someone that has moved to a new home.

Papers used are from the Wild Raspberry collection by K and Co.

Thanks for looking...x

Kreative Blog Award

2010-02-03T17:39:00.010Z

I received a blog award today from my crafting buddy Sonja. I have not received many blog awards so it is a lovely thought when someone sends me one. Thanks Sonja!

So to the rules....

To have this award is to pass it on – the instructions are as follows:

1. Thank the person giving the award.
2. Copy the award graphic to your blog.
3. Place a link to their blog.
4. Name seven things people don’t know about you.
5. Nominate seven bloggers you admire.
6. Place a link to these bloggers.
7. Leave a comment on their blog notifying them of the award.

So I have to say thank you to Sonja at The Secret Life of a Scrap Stash Collector for sending me this award. I read her blog several times a week and love looking at all her creations. She is fab at art journalling!

So seven things people don't know is harder but here we go.

1. I have had three miscarriages.

2. I have a rare chromosomal disorder called a Balanced Reciprocal Translocation which in my case affects my chromosomes 15 and 20. This means that 50% of my eggs are unsuitable for a healthy pregnancy and result in miscarriage (25% of my eggs have too much chromosome 15 and not enough chromosome 20, 25% have too much chromosome 20 and not enough chromosome 15, 25% are normal and 25% will be like me and have the balanced translocation). PHEW! If you understood that award yourself a chocolate bar LOL

3. Although I am chatty, I am quite insecure and worry too much! I use my social skills to cover up a lot!

4. I am a Sci-Fi geek!

5. I am still scared of a ventriloquist puppet called George from my childhood (that belonged to my cousin) that has skirey orange hair and googly eyes!
(I don't want to give anyone nightmares but I googled the puppet as I think his right name was Mr Parlanchin - only look if you don't mind puppets!)

6. My favourite song is Somewhere over the Rainbow. I love Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's mix with Wonderful World the best.

7. I can't leave the volume controls, air conditioner etc on an odd number unless it ends with 5 as that to me is a round number!

There are loads of great blogs out there but these are blogs that I read regularly and find inspiring work on. There are loads of blogs that I read that have likey had this award already so I have tried to choose different blogs.

Erika
Jo
Ruth
Leigh
Karen
Kaz
Leandra

January Calendar pages

2010-02-01T21:38:00.006Z

Whoo Hoo!! I have actually managed to complete one whole month so far for the 365 day calendar art journalling challenge. Below are my finished pages for January. I have really enjoyed doing this although I did play catch up a few times!
I have also thoroughly enjoyed seeing how others have completed their pages and my head is buzzing with ideas to try out.

I have to chuckle however when I read back my entries as I have selfishly journalled about myself I would say at least 90% of the time! I do have children and a husband!! LOL
I also realised looking back at just how many times I use faces to express emotion - now is that a teacher habit or perhaps because I am on the internet so much that I need my emoticons?? LOL

My February pages are all ready too. Although I seem to have lost a word "to" near the top so will have to replace it. I have gone over the top with the love theme LOL (perhaps to make up for the fact that although I am a VERY emotional person I am not usually slushy mushy LOL)

Thanks for looking....x

Hanging Heart Decoration

2010-02-01T12:15:00.001Z

February's challenge over at Vanilla Sugar is to make a hanging heart decoration.

Head on over to see the fantastic creations the other design team members made.

Below are pictures and a description of what I made.

To make the heart base I drew a heart shape on an A4 piece of chipboard and cut out with a craft knife (the heart fills the sheet). I applied a layer of Viva Decor Terra paste to the base and stamped in to it with a selection of script and swirl stamps. I heated it carefully with a heat gun to speed up the drying process and also to get a slight "bubbling" effect to the paste. Once dry I painted it with deep pink and red paint so that it went in to the grooves then lightly sponged a paler pink and cream paint to the surface. I finished the base by very lightly rubbing on berry and gold metallic paints with my finger.

I hand drew another heart shape for the inside and covered it with Basic Grey paper, sanding and inking the edges. The ruffle was created by ruffling ribbon on the back. This top heart was adhered to the heart base with foam pads so that is was higher. I then used a crystal swirl to add some bling and arranged some paper roses and gold ribbon to make a focal decoration. The quote was printed on to paper, distressed, inked and backed on to more basic grey paper and attached to the side of the heart.

I am looking forward to seeing all the challenge entries. I hope you take part.

Thanks for looking.x

Hugs and Kisses Competition

2010-01-30T17:54:00.005Z

Tando Creative have this gorgeous Hugs and Kisses board to giveaway to one lucky person.

Tando Creative Ltd are running a competition to win this fabulous decorated Hugs and Kisses Board. This board is unique as it is a larger version of the one available to buy and has been specially made just for this competition. It includes a chipboard base and 10 completely individual chipboard pieces that have been beautifully decorated by ladies from all round the country. The pieces have all been signed on the back by the artist. The competition is open until Sunday 14th February when a winner will be picked at random to win this prize. To enter the competition all you need to do is make make any project, whether it be a card, altered art, scrapbook page etc using a piece/pieces of Tando Creative chipboard. The project must be made for the competition so not shown previously on blogs or galleries. Just leave a comment on this post with a link to your entry.

The pieces were decorated by some members of the Bubbly Funk forum.

Here is the piece that I decorated using Viva Decor Terra texture paste, stamps and acrylic paint.

Thanks for looking and good luck!

Another Pink Card....

2010-01-27T21:02:00.012Z

I have made another pink card for Jacqui to donate to the cancer support charity CLAN (see post below for details). This time I made an easel card and took my inspiration for a card I saw on Lilybean's blog, which I read every day. I am just in awe at her style of cardmaking and home decor. I made my sentiment using Word on the PC however I have since ordered the heart stamps and sentiment stamps that she used as I LOVE them!

The heart stamp is by Blonde Moments
The flocked and plain paper are made by Doodlebug.

Thanks for looking...xxx

Think Pink....

2010-01-26T19:14:00.009Z

I have made a "pink" card for a challenge on Jacqui's blog, Simply Create, which is to make a card using only pink. All the finished cards are going to be donated to a local charity CLAN which is a cancer support group.

I have not included a sentiment in my card as I think that the image could be used for several occasions. Inspiration for this card was from Lilybean.

Papers used are Doodlebug
Stamp is Prima
Glitter on the main part if the bird is Doodlebug
Glittered flock on the wing is Papermania

Thanks for looking...xxx

Heart Basket

2010-01-19T13:13:00.009Z

I have had great fun decorating a lovely little chipboard Heart Basket as DT work for Tando Creative. It is supplied flat but easily slots together and stands up, perfect for small gifts. The heart size is approx. 120mm wide by 110mm tall and 25mm deep.

I decided to go for a "worn wood" effect. To do this I first painted it with Reeves gold acrylic paint then applied a layer of Blonde Moments crackle glaze. I left it to dry completely overnight and then applied the top layer of paint which is deco art deep red. The edges were inked with charcoal chalk ink.

To decorate the front I used a self adhesive crystal swirl made by Zva Creative, words cut from paper by Teresa Collins and a Delish designs rub on.

I have filled it with sweets inside black tulle and added a red chiffon ribbon bow and crystal stems. As an extra surprise I will add a cimema gift card or similar behind the sweets. Once it has been opened I of course plan on reusing the crystal stems and tulle LOL but will also fill it with love quote tags and use as a display.

Thanks for looking....x

With Love Heart Stand

2010-01-10T09:46:00.005Z

With all this snow that is around it is hard to think of anything other than wintery things however Valentine's Day is just around the corner and if you want to start creating something special for someone special then what better time than now when it is so cold outside.

I have been doing just that for a few days as I got this wonderful With Love Heart stand to play with from Tando Creative. It is a sweet little stand up interlocking chipboard heart decoration with the letters spelling WITH LOVE. Each heart measures approximately 80mm x 75mm and the letters are 50mm tall

I pondered for quite a while as to the colour scheme I was going to use for this but in the end I decided upon a non conventional Valentine mix of turquoise and red. I have recently bought some of the Bo Bunny Love Bandit and Persuasion papers and decided to use them and chose the colours from them.

First of all I covered each heart piece with either Persuasion Love Notes or Whoo Loves You patterned papers, alternating each paper. I also covered the backs of the hearts with the opposite paper from the front. I then sanded and inked the edges with creamy brown chalk ink and doodled inside the edges with a white gel pen to give a stitched effect.

To make the letters I triple embossed them with UTEE using Blonde Moments Angelic Teal and Cosmic Shimmer Tropic Red. To finish each letter I sprinkled a little of the opposite colour of UTEE on to the top layer to give a slightly mottled effect.
I attached each letter with tacky glue and added some small paper roses.

On the back of the wall stand you could put photographs or love quotes to decorate, however I really wanted to use the deer, bird, racoon and owl characters that were on the Love you Deerly paper so I punched some out using an oval punch and inked the edges and added them to every second piece raising them with pop up dots. The small hearts were cut from the offcuts of the Love Notes paper.
I also punched smaller circles of some of the characters, inked the edges and adhered to a button. They were then put on every alternating heart.

I thoroughly enjoyed decorating this With Love Heart Stand. Click on each picture for a close up view and as always thanks for looking.....x

Now this is what I call Snow!!!

2010-01-09T16:55:00.010Z

We set off this afternoon to go to White Cow Woods, which is about 10 miles from our house, in the hope of going sledging.
We thought that our main obstacle would be in actually getting there however we were mistaken as we got there with no problems!
However the car park for White Cow Woods was over a foot deep in snow and only a tractor would dare venture in there! The boys were disappointed as we had to do a 3 point turn on this country track and head for home, however as we turned the car we spotted a very long sloped track road hidden behind a snow drift.
Fortunately a tractor had at one point been down that road enabling us to walk in the shallower treads but the snow was just too deep for sledging.
Nevertheless Andrew and Peter had great fun playing in the deep snow. One of the photos shows the snow up to the top of Andrew's legs and over my knees, another photo shows it up to Peter's waist.

A fun day!

We had to drive up that hill over on the right to get home!

We have snow!!!

2010-01-07T14:32:00.008Z

Like most of the UK we have experienced snow this week. Our schools were supposed to go back on Tuesday but so far they have not opened due to the snow. Fraserburgh, where I live has not had much snow even although as close as 5 miles away has had loads! Not sure if it is because we are situated right on the NE corner of Scotland and the winds and salty air have an effect or if we have just missed it. However that all changed today as there was a very heavy snowfall through the night and we woke to around 6 inches of the stuff. I had to get some food shopping today so we decided to walk to a small shop round the corner of the bottom of my street rather than try and get to the main supermarket. Of course the best way to get there and transport the shopping home was of course by sledge!

Here are some photos that I took this morning:

Happy New Year.....with a sprinkling of Vanilla Sugar.....x

2010-01-01T02:10:00.008Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
I'd like to take this chance to wish everyone that visits my blog a very happy new year, I hope that 2010 is a great year for you all.....x

I am not going to bother making any New Year's Resolutions as I never keep them LOL but I will add that I really hope that I manage to keep up with the 365 calendar art journalling challenge!

I also have some exciting news to share. A new challenge blog run by Caroline from Bubbly Funk goes live today and I am thrilled to have been chosen to be on the design team! The new challenge blog is called

VANILLA SUGAR........SWEETLY HANDMADE

and will feature a challenge on the first of each month. The focus will be on hand made gifts and home decor. I really hope you will visit the blog and gain some inspiration from it.

January's theme is coasters and I chose to make small gift bags using beer mats/coasters as the front and back. I made a few different depths of bags that will suit holding different things.

My favourite bag is the one that holds a notelet and birthday book set.
Here are the instructions for how I made it.

Materials:
2 beer mats / coasters
1 sheet of patterned paper
3 sheets of A4 card that co-ordinates
3 sheets of white A4 card.
Ribbon to match

To make the bag cut 2 pieces of ribbon each 6.5" long and adhere to the inside of each bag. Then cover the front of each coaster with patterned paper and the back with card. Sand and ink edges. Cut a piece of card for the sides - 24cm x 6cm. Score the long sides 1cm in from each edge and the short eges at 8cm and 16cm.
Attach red DST to the long ends and adhere to the coasters.
Decorate the front of your bag and voila - hardly takes any time!

To make the birthday book I cut a piece of card 17.5 x 8cm and scored at 8cm and 9.5cm for the outside. Adhere a piece of patterned paper to the front and decorate. I printed the word "birthdays" using Word on the PC and punched it out.
Cut another piece of card 12cm x 7.8cm and score every 1cm and fold in a concertina fashion.
Cut 7.8cm squares of card (5) and adhere to each of the concertina folds that stick out. Glue a length of ribbon to the inside front and back cover. Cut 7.5cm squares (12) in white card and stamp with the months of the year.
Glue these on to the pages.

The notelet holder was made by cutting a piece of card 17cm x 8cm and scoring at 8cm and 9cm. Decorate the front in the same way as the birthday book and put the sticky notes inside.

My Craft Room

2009-12-31T14:55:00.009Z

Thought I'd share some pictures I took today of my craft room. I love looking at others' rooms so thought some people might like to see my one.....and also beacause I just gave it a quick tidy LOL
My tables are from Costco - cost under £20 each and are well worth it - they can fold away too.

My new purchases ready for art journalling came today. I couldn't get Sharpie poster paint pens in the UK so chose another brand. Sonja I'll let you know how I get on with them LOL.

Here is an art journal page I did in August (my one and only page LOL) I made it to give to Dyan Reaveley. All the ladies that attended Scrapattack in Macduff in September made a page about ourselves to give to her.
Click on it for a larger image and who knows you might read something about me that you didn't know......x

Art Journalling Challenge - January's pages

2009-12-30T21:47:00.008Z

I have completed January's pages ready for starting the 2010 365 day art journalling challenge inspired by Kate at the Kathryn Wheel

I made my pages about A4 size and glued 8 sheets of newspaper together with a blue glue stick (totally covering each page). Once dry I painted them with a white undercoat so they were ready for each month.

For January I painted the background in shades of blue and printed with bubble wrap and antique white paint. Once dry I stamped snowflakes randomly over the top using silver ink and a Tim Holtz stamp. I repeated with a Tim Holtz script stamp with navy ink.

I went through a pile of patterned papers and cut 4cm squares and also punched 1 1/2" circles. I have sorted these into cool and warm colours and chose a selection of cool colours for January. To finish off I doodled a border and added American Crafts glitter letters.

And today is also WOYWW (what's on your workspace Wednesday) Although I enjoy looking at everyone else's photos on a Wednesday I didn't sign up as I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up. However since my camera was out I snapped a picture of it just now too. (LOL Can you see the pink pages ready for February LOL Also painted chipboard black ready for decorating the covers *polishes halo* LOL)

Art Journalling Challenge

2009-12-29T17:12:00.005Z

I have decided to sign up for a 2010 365 day art journalling challenge over on Kathrynwheel's blog.
I hope that I manage to do it! Two friends Kirsti and Sonja are also taking part and they have already made a start on preparing January's pages - Girls give me a nudge every week to make sure that I have not fallen behind LOL

ETA: Flickr group is here

Blog Candy

2009-12-29T16:55:00.006Z

Tracie Hudson has a beautiful Jolly by Golly minibook kit giveaway on her blog here

The giveaway closes at midnight on 30th December.

Craft Stamper have a blog giveaway here too.

It ends at midnight on 30th December

All About Us Minibook

2009-12-14T08:39:00.006Z

Here is another project I made for the Tando Creative Blog as DT work. This time I used a small chipboard word "US." I decided to use it on the cover of a minibook about my two sons, which is full of photos taken of them in Orlando this year.

I kept it simple and painted the word with acylic paint and then stamped a grid pattern on top once dry.

I have filled the book with photos and included loads of journalling pages too. I have completed some however I plan on getting the boys to write things in it too. They have made a start but between writing Christmas cards for their classes and doing homework etc I can't expect them to do it all in one sitting. ( more to the point they probably won't do it all in one sitting!! LOL)

Papers and journalling cards used are from the Rough and Tough range by Fancy Pants.

Here are some of the pages:

As always thanks for looking.

xxx

Layout of my Mum and Dad's Wedding Day

2009-12-12T16:31:00.004Z

I have made another layout for my mum's surprise album. This time it is of my parents' wedding day.

Papers used are My Minds Eye from the Andrea Victoria range. They are the perfect colour choice as they match the colour of the bridesmaids. I will be doing another LO with a colour photo of the wedding party. I really like the pattern of these papers too - perfect for a 1970 wedding photo!

I might still add stamped swirls to the Wedding Day mat - am still undecided but have left it alone for just now.

Thanks for looking.
x

Winter Wall Hanging

2009-12-07T00:08:00.002Z

This week I made a vertical wall hanging using chipboard letters and snowflakes from Tando for the Tando Creative blog

First I painted each snowflake in baby blue acrylic paint, once dry I sponge painted antique white over the top fading at the edges. To give each snowflake an aged look I inked the edges roughly with creamy brown chalk ink. I then decorated each snowflake with glitter dust over glossy accents.

To make each letter I triple embossed them with Blonde Moments Sugar Cool UTEE. To make the swirl effect I stamped in to the hot UTEE before it set with swirl stamps, I also dropped some gems for extra sparkle.

I attached each snowflake with wire and pearl beads adding tulle and jingle bells to every second snowflake. Every other snowflake was decorated with Christmas Prima flowers and stars. I fastened a beaded tassle to the bottom and tied several coordinating ribbons and jingle bells to the top.

Click on the pictures for close ups.
Thanks for looking.
x

A Scrumptious Thank You

2009-11-28T07:57:00.006Z

I got a chance to play with a beautiful THANK YOU sentiment for Tando Creative
and immediately knew that it would be perfect to team up with a gorgeous paper cupcake gift holder that I saw on the Bubbly Funk blog, (Bubbly Scrumptious) here.
It was created by the Stamp Goddess - her blog and instructions are here
Written instructions are also on ScrappyCath's here.

At 85mm the chipboard sentiment is the perfect size to add to the cupcake. I applied a few coats of Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) to the chipboard in a few different shades including dark pink, light pink and dark brown and fastened it to the top of the paper cupcake with a cocktail stick.

There is a polytyrene ball inside the cupcake that hides a gift card inside it. The outside is decorated with paper, ribbons, flowers, brads and of course glitter! I made it slightly differently from the tutorial - instead of paper flowers I used a small oval punch from Stampin Up to punch out the icing.

It was a bit fiddly to make but I think it is well worth it in the end. A perfect gift to say THANK YOU to someone special!!

For full instructions on how to make the cupcake please visit the tutorial at Bubbly Scrumptious here.

Mum 60th Birthday Card

2009-11-21T11:37:00.006Z

I received lots of pieces of chipboard from Di at Tando Creative yesterday and couldn't wait to get started on my first DT project. I made a card for my mum's 60th birthday using the small chipboard word MUM. I knew that I wanted a feminine card and of course a glittered word!

I painted the chipboard with two coats of Buttermilk acrylic paint and inked the edges with Chestnut Roan chalk ink. I then applied glossy accents and Crystal Glamour Dust for sparkle. The chipboard piece is really thick and sturdy and really stands out on the card.

The paper base is Pandora from the Victorian 7 gypsies collection.
The flourish border and 60 have been cut using the Storybook cartridge on the Cricut. The butterflies have been punched using a Martha Stewart Butterfly punch, stamped, blinged and layered.
I also added ribbon, tulle and a heart pin for a soft, feminine effect.

I have really enjoyed making my first DT project which can be seen on the Tando Creative blog here.
Thanks for looking.
xxx

Graceland Gates

2009-11-19T23:13:00.003Z

Here is a double layout that I have made as part of a surprise album for my mum's 60th birthday (she is 60 on Boxing Day and will probably give me a row for disclosing her age LOL) She had better not read my blog between now and then!!!

When my dad was 60 a few years ago we (that is my 4 sisters and myself - we let my brother off!) made an album for my dad. It was a whopping 120 pages big and took almost a year to complete! It spanned from the arly 1900's to present day. My dad was overwhelmed and said that it was THE BEST present he had ever received so it was certainly worth it in the end.

For my mum's album we are covering her heritage up until she met my dad. At this point the albums will combine and we are also making layouts featuring special events in the past 3 years since my dad's 60th.

For his 60th birthday my mum had secretely booked a holiday to Nashville, Memphis and Las Vegas. He is a HUGE Elvis Presley fan and has always wanted to visit Graceland. He found out about the Graceland trip in the last layout that was made for his album and took a while to realise what it meant!!

As with a few of the layouts for my mum I have omitted journalling as these can be added later and if necessary be hidden behind the photos. I would prefer to add this once my mum can give more personal details etc.

Click on the image for a larger view and as always thanks for looking.
x

More Exciting News

2009-11-18T08:05:00.002Z

My other piece of exciting news is that I am now a member of the Tando Creative Ltd Design Team!!

I got the shock of my life when I got a message from Di Oliver (the owner of Tando Creative) offering me a place!

I am really excited at the challenge that this will bring me however I am a bit nervous too - I hope I don't disappoint!!

Other members of the Design Team are:
Karen Gist
Kaz Boughton and
Caroline Scattergood

I will be joining them in showing our projects on the Tando Creative Blog here.

Please drop by the blog.
x

Exciting News

2009-11-17T15:32:00.004Z

Oooh I am delighted to share that I have won two prizes in the UK Scrappers cybercrop.

Di Oliver from Tando Creative selected my Countdown To Christmas as the winning one from her class. Di has kindly donated a selection of Tando Creative chipboard as a prize- so looking forward to playing with that!!(Tando Creative blog is here).

Rachel Millington from Paperarts selected my "Sisters" Layout as the winning LO from her class. Paperarts very generously asked me to choose a 12 x 12" Basic Grey Collection pack from the shop. It was hard choosing one but in the end I chose the Lemonade collection.

I have one more piece of exciting news that I will share tomorrow :)

UKS Cybercrop Mystery Kit

2009-11-17T10:10:00.005Z

The post below shows the LOs I made as part of the UKS Cybercop. As well as taking part in some of the classes I also took part in the Mystery Kit challenge. I was a member of the Tinmen team and our kit was available for purchase from Sarah's Cards. The kit contained papers and elements that are exactly what I would choose so I was delighted when I opened the box!!

I made two LOs with the material available. (Rules allowed us to also add black or white card, black or white ink, etc as well as cutting tools and stamps etc)

Two Bug Eyed Boys

Move Over Tinmen

UKS Wicked Cybercrop

2009-11-17T09:23:00.009Z

This past weekend was cybercrop weekend over at UK Scrappers with the theme of Wizard of OZ.
As usual it was packed with challenges and classes. It has been great learning new techniques and working with the challenge of time to get my projects uploaded.

I took part in 6 classes between Friday and Sunday. Here are my projects:

First class was by Rachel Millington and was called Twister and Shout. Her class used a lot of sewing and also a paper rolling technique. I made a LO for my mum's 60th birthday album (which is a surprise so I hope she doesn't look at my blog!!)

Sisters

Next class that I did was called Over The Rainbow and was designed by Ifa. Her class involved sewing on to ribbon to make a circular frame and journalling down the side of the LO.

Crazy Things

Third class I did was The Lollipop Guild by Michelle Jackson (AKA MJM). It involved a lot of tearing and inking to make frames which were then raised with foam pads.

Snow White

My next LO was a class called Dreaming of Home by Tracy Oakes (AKA Tracy Doodle) and yes it included lots of doodling!! I altered this one slightly to suit my photo etc and chose to cut up some Love Elsie paper and doodle around parts with a black sharpie to make it pop.

Together

The next class that I started on Saturday was called Time To Go Home and was designed by Di O. I was originally going to leave this until later in the week so that I could spend more time on it however I was itching to make it as I knew exactly the look I wanted. I started this one at midnight on Saturday!! Then got back to it on Sunday morning.

Countdown To Christmas

The final class that I did was Witch Way Home by Annette West (AKA Voodoo Vixen).
It was of course a minibook but this time made as a frame so it can stand. I chose to make my one for jotting down the funny things my two boys say so that I can use on LOs etc later.

Just You 2

Rainbow Showers Altered Printer's Tray

2009-09-06T21:52:00.014+01:00

I want to share some pictures of a printer's tray that I finished altering a few days ago. (Click on each picture for a close up)
For the past 2 years Dyan Reaveley of Art from the Heart has come up to Macduff, NE Scotland for a weekend of workshops called Scrapattack.
Every year the Aberdeen craft group that organise the weekend set us some fun challenges to get us in the spirit. This year one of the challenges was to alter an item.

I soon decided that I wanted to alter a printer's tray and chose to do it in the theme of Colour.
Here is what the tray looked like before I cleaned it with wire wool.

All cleaned!

I then painted it with several coats of undercoat and then painted with acrylic paints. Once dry I sprayed each band of colour with different pearl mist sprays made with Distress ink reinkers, water and Blonde Moments pearl pigments.
Next stage was to stamp some random images over the tray and inside some of the compartments with a selection of Tim Holtz stamps Burnt Umber Palette Ink.

I then filled each compartment with an assortment of doll's house miniatures that I purchased from ebay, collage images purchased mainly from Lisa's Altered Art and Digital Collage Sheets.

Finally I made a minibook filled with the words to my favourite song Somewhere over the Rainbow. I love this song and my two boys love me singing it to them (just a pity that I can't sing that well LOL)

I will be back over the next few days with new posts showing some of the projects I made at Scrapattack with Dyan. I have had a fantastic 2 days and am back again tomorrow for an art journalling day.

CHA candy giveaway

2009-08-24T17:47:00.001+01:00

Visit the lovely and talented Erika to see her CHA blog candy giveaway.
She also has loads of pictures showing new stash unveiled at the recent CHA in Orlando.

Baby Boy's 1st Birthday

2009-08-02T16:45:00.002+01:00

Materials Used:
Paper by Hot Off The Press (8x8 baby book)
Cuttlebug polka dot embossing folder
Chipboard number
SU stamp (circle)
Creative Cafe stamp (Today)
Hero Arts Stamp (Happy Birthday)
SU scallop punch

Time for a party!!

2009-08-02T11:05:00.012+01:00

The Stampin Up party I had on Friday evening was a great success.
Dawn was a great demonstrator as usual. We made two bagalopes as our make and take, one was Halloween themed and the other was Christmas themed. Unfortunately I did not have time to finish making my one so have no pictures to show you yet but as soon as I get them made I will post a photo.
She also demonstrated various techniques/products including heat and stick powder with glitter, embossing, rollers and rulers, reverse image stamping and the Stamp-a-ma-jig.
I am so grateful to everyone who came along and helped make it a big success. I was rewarded with sales that got me to level 3 and I also got £142 to spend in the catalogue. I will post pictures of my goodies once they arrive.

Thanks also to Dawn for the beautiful gift she gave me of a Rose embossing folder and an epoxy brad making kit, both of which are exclusive to the US catalogue. They will be well used!!

Here are some photos from the evening. (My apologies for some of the blurry photos - my sister borrowed my camera and took it off of auto with the result when I got it back I took some fuzzy photos ~ next time I'll need to remember to check the settings LOL)

From left: Gillian, Sarah, Stephanie, Janice, Ellis, Me

From left: Gillian, Sarah, Stephanie, Janice, Ellis, Fiona

Having a cup of tea and a fine piece!

Janice, Gillian and Denise busy making their make and take

Two of my sisters - Diane and Linda Ruth

Hazel and her grandchildren

Brenda, Kerry and Kerry's daughter Kali

Dawn and Denise

Janice and Gillian

Angela, Rosie and Ann

Mary, Jeannie and Denise (Jeannie was hard at work!)

Christine and her daughter Emily

Anne and Geana

The recipes are on the post below for all the biscuits I made.
Special thanks to Christine for the Jelly Pieces, Janice for the Date&Walnut loaf, chocolate crispies and Mincemeat tartlets, Stephanie for the Lemon Drizzle cake and Strawberry sponge, and not forgetting Sarah and Angela for providing some sandwiches too.

Honeymoon Slice and other recipes

2009-07-29T15:11:00.015+01:00

Today I have been busy baking for a Stampin Up Party that I am having on Friday.

Honeymoon Slice

Ingredients:
2 x 300g blocks white cooking chocolate
12 oz dessicated coconut
2 oz glace cherries
1 tbs icing sugar
1 large tin condensed milk
1/2 cup rice crispies

Caramel:
3oz margarine
1 1/2 oz caster sugar
1/3 large tin condensed milk
2 tsp syrup

Method:
Line a tray with cling film. Melt one block of white chocolate and spread over the base of the tray. Leave to set.
Cut the cherries in to small pieces and add to the coconut and icing sugar in a bowl. Stir in the condensed milk, ensuring that all ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Spread on to the chocolate base.
Make the caramel by placing all the ingredients in a pan and gently bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Boil for several minutes, continue to stir and then pour over the coconut layer.
Sprinkle rice crispies over the caramel. Melt the second block of chocolate and spread over the top.
A little melted milk chocolate may be drizzled across the top for decoration. Once colled lift the biscuit out of the tray, peel off the cling film and cut in to squares.

Double Shortbread

Ingredients:
16oz margarine
4 oz icing sugar
16oz plain flour
4oz custard powder

(I sandwich mine with jam but you may prefer butter icing)
Butter Icing:
2oz butter
3-4 oz sieved icing sugar

Glace Icing:
4oz icing sugar
1 dsp warm water

Method:
Cream margarine and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. Gradually work in the plain flour and custard powder, mixing thoroughly. Turn on to a light floured surface and roll out thinly (about 1/4"). Cut out rings with fluted cutters.
Put on to a well greased baking tray and bake at 150C until pale golden. (I baked mine for 20-25 mins).
Cool and sandwich together with butter icing (or jam). Decorate tops with glace icing and sugar strands.

Mars Bar Fudge

Ingredients:
3 Mars bars
2oz margarine
150g milk chocolate
2tbs syrup
4oz rice crispies

Caramel:
3oz margarine
1 1/2oz caster sugar
1/3 large tin condensed milk
2tsp syrup

150g white chocolate

Method:
Add the Mars bars to the margarine, milk chocolate and syrup in a pan. Heat gently, stirring constantly, until all the ingredients are melted and thoroughly mixed.
Stir in the rice crispies and spread over the bottom of a greased baking tin..
Make the caramel by placing all the ingredients (except the white chocolate) in a pan and bringing them to the boil, stirring constantly. Boil for several minutes then put on to a low heat and gradually add the white chocolate, stirring constantly. Stir the mixture well and pour over the base mix.
A little melted milk chocolate may be drizzled across the top for decoration.

Caramel Shortbread

Ingredients:
Base ~
8oz plain flour
4oz cornflour
2oz caster sugar
2oz icing sugar
8oz margarine

Caramel:
8oz margarine
4oz caster sugar
1 large tin condensed milk
1 tbs syrup
300g milk chocolate

Method:
Cream the margarine until very smooth, then gradually work in the remaining ingredients. Press into a lightly greased baking tray and bake at 200C for 20 minutes, until pale golden.
To make the caramel, melt margarine, caster sugar, condensed milk and syrup in a pan over a gentle heat. Bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour the caramel over the shortbread base and leave to cool.
Melt the milk chocolate and spread over the caramel base.

Canadian Roll

Ingredients:
15 marshmallows
15 glace cherries
15 digestive biscuits
small tin condensed milk
1oz margarine
dessicated coconut to cover

Method:
Cut the marshmallows and cherries in to small pieces. Crush the digestive biscuits and melt the margarine. Mix these ingredients well, stirring in the condensed milk.
Shape in to a roll, roll in coconut and leave in fridge to set.
Slice and serve.

Peanut Mallow

Ingredients:
1 medium (8oz) jar crunchy peanut butter
2oz margarine
150g white cooking chocolate
1 packet marshmallowws

Method:
Line a tray with cling film. Place the peanut butter, margarine and cooking chocolate in a pan and melt them together over a gentle heat, stirring constantly. Leave to cool.
Cut the marshmallows into small pieces and stir the in to the cooled mixture.
Pour into the tray, place in fridge and leave to set.

Fresh Cream Meringues

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
8oz caster sugar
1oz granulated sugar
pinch of cream of tartar
10fl oz double cream

Method:
Whisk the egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff then fold in the caster sugar.
Fold in the granulated sugar.
Pipe or pile small spoonfulls onto a greased tin lined with greaseproof paper.
Bake at 150C for 1 hour and 100C for 1 1/2 hours. When cold, sandwich together with whipped cream.

Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients:
8oz jar crunchy peanut butter
1 1/2 cups crushed cornflakes
1 cup icing sugar
10z margarine
300g block milk chocolate
walnut pieces for decoration

Method:
Place peanut butter, cornflakes, icing sugar and margarine into a mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly. Roll into balls of the required size.
Melt the cooking chocolate and dip the balls into the chocolate.
When coated with chocolate, decorate with a walnut piece.

Queen's Challenge

2009-07-23T09:44:00.008+01:00

The wonderful Dyan Reaveley has a challenge on her blog just now to create anything you want with a Queen's Collage sheet purchased from Lisa's Altered Art.

I had great fun creating a background yesterday for the challenge using techniques I learned from Dyan at a workshop and also a clear embossing resist technique I saw on Tim Holtz's blog.

I knew from the start that I wanted to decorate a tin to hold recipes after seeing the Cupcake Queen image. However I had no idea what I was going to do with the background LOL

Anyway I got there in the end, here is the final result.
If anyone wants the recipes I can email them to you as long as you make me a sample LOL

Details of background (Click on image for close up):
NB: The 5th picture should read " when the paint is almost dry"

Northern Papercraft Retreat Blog Candy Giveaway

2009-06-15T15:39:00.000+01:00

See here for a great blog candy giveaway

Birthday Card with Stampin Up Crazy for Cupcakes Stamp

2009-05-24T17:22:00.004+01:00

Materials Used:
Papers ~ Scenic Route, Loveland
Stamps ~ Stampin Up, Crazy For Cupcakes
Coloured with Promarkers
Martha Stewart doily punch
Ribbon, lace, gems

The inspiration for this card was in Card Trends Magazine and was by Lilybean

Baby Girl's 1st Birthday Card

2009-05-24T17:16:00.002+01:00

Materials:
Papers used ~ Basic Grey, Sugared
Stamp ~ Downloadable calendar stamp from The Cutting Cafe
Sentiment cut using The Storybook Cricut cartridge
Wooden Heart, charm, ribbon

Birthday Card with Sweet and Sassy Sugar Nellie Stamp

2009-05-24T17:15:00.003+01:00

Materials Used:
Papers ~ Magenta
Stamp ~ Sweet and Sassy by Sugar Nellie
Coloured with Prismacolors
Sentiment stamp from Stampin Up
Wooden Heart, charm, ribbon and gems

Birthday Card with Russian Doll

2009-05-24T17:09:00.005+01:00

Materials Used:
Paper ~ Creative Imaginations
Stamp ~ Hero Arts
Coloured with Promarkers
Ribbon, gems

Cool Dude

2009-04-10T19:52:00.001+01:00

Finally got round to taking part in the Cat Amongst the Pigeons UKS cybercrop class which I loved. I made this layout whilst at the weekend retreat recently.

I used papers by Rouge de Garance
Rubons by Basic Grey
Chipboard by Rusty Pickle
Bling by Glitz
Foam letters cut using Sizzlets
Letter stickers by Making Memories

My Sweet Boy

2009-04-10T19:36:00.006+01:00

I recently came across the amazing work by Ingvild from Norway and immediately fell in love with her style of scrapping.

I scraplifted elements from the LO on her blog(www.spinvild.com - Jan 15th, 2009) for the inspiration to create this LO.

My LO shows a picture of my son Peter taken last Autumn. I made this layout whilst away to the weekend retreat.

Papers used are a selection. Base is Colour Co-ordinations CS in Vanilla Cream
Bazzill Kraft paper
Green Foliage paper is from Scenic Route Laurel range.
The blue graph paper I got from a friend at a crop - I think it may be October Afternoon.
Music paper is vintage.
The bird and foliage is cut from a paper from the Scenic ROute Laurel range.

All papers were distressed, inked, ripped, rolled etc

The title was cut on the Cricut using the Storybook cartridge. I welded the butterfly on to the word BOY and also cut again in blue and layered.

Butter Wouldn't Melt

2009-04-10T19:33:00.004+01:00

A favourite scrapper of mine is Jakey - I love her style.

I have scraplifted her LO here.

My LO uses a photo of my son Andrew taken last Autumn. As soon as I saw the photo the words "Butter wouldn't melt" sprung to mind! hence the title and journalling.

Papers used are Rouge de Garance (background) and Scenic Route (Metropolis range)
The journalling page is from Making Memories.
All the embellishment shapes were cut using the Cricut and the Accent Essentials cartridge.

Title is a mix of white stickers and cricut letters. The word PHOTO is stamped with a Creative Cafe stamp.

This is one of the layouts I made when away to my recent craft weekend.

Food, Drink, Laughter and a little bit of crafting!

2009-03-27T19:53:00.032Z

Finally got a chance to put up some pictures with a write up following the fab weekend we had two weeks ago at Mayne House,Elgin.

The House

What is worse than a girl packing for a weekend away?
THREE girls packing for a CRAFTING weekend away!

Here are some of us on Friday
Sarah, Angela (or me - in red), Frances, Fiona, Christine, Sarah and baby Bronte

Setting up the "craft room"

In the kitchen

Preparing for our meal on Friday evening - Pizza, garlic bread and salad washed down with wine of course!

The Corry fans (not me!) didn't want to miss the wedding so we took a short break.
I played with Bronte.

The Saturday gang.
Angela, Jo, Sarah, Jane, Christine, me, Sharon, Frances, Erika, Fiona, Sarah.

Sarah, Jo, Fiona and Frances peeping out of the "craft room"

Angela and I went outside to pose LOL

Happy Crafters!

Three Glitter Gossips
It was great to meet Sharon from Inverness for the first time. Erika, Sharon and I are all in the same UKScrappers team.

Bronte was our youngest guest, she was a wee angel the whole weekend.

Delicious Chinese meal for Saturday evening.

Fun, games and laughter on Saturday evening.

Sarah and Angela going head to head in the Embellishment game.

The anagram game provided lots of hilarity and it also brought out a lot of the competitive sides! Fiona was desperately waiting for the extremely difficult IGNX to come round!! Can't believe GIN X proved so hard!
Frances kept getting Steve (AKA Autumn Leaves) and Sarah couldn't see Heidi Swapp, as she kept seeing Dishwasher LOL

Sadly we said goodbye to Sharon, Jo and Erika on Saturday but Janice and Gillian joined us on Sunday.

Some pictures of us crafting on Sunday

Messiest desk award goes to ANGELA!
She was working on an area 2" by 6" !! Can you tell she's a florist! LOL!
(she can also claim prize for the loudest snorer but shhh! I won't tell)

I can't believe how quickly the weekend passed. Everyone had a great time.
We shall definitely have to do it again.

Thank you everyone for all the laughs and companionship over the weekend. It was great to make new friends and bond with everyone. I personally took a lot more away from the weekend than just crafting.
xxx

30th Birthday card with Gorjuss Stamp

2009-03-21T17:31:00.011Z

Here is a card I made yesterday for one of my sisters who will be 30 in April.
Click on the picture for a larger image.

Materials used:

Gorjuss stamp by Sugar Nellie
Promarker Pens - Rose Pink and Cool Aqua for the dress, Ivory and blush for her face and Burnt Umber for her hair. Cat coloured in Turquoise with stickles added.
Paper by Blonde Moments, Maisie Moo Collection
Cardstock by Co-Ordinations
Doily Border Punch by Martha Stewart
Embossing Folder by Cuttlebug
Sentiment from The Cutting Cafe
Stickles, gemstones, charm and ribbon

Thanks for looking
x

I Spy......... Blog Candy Giveaways

2009-03-20T19:27:00.004Z

Here are some fab links to win some blog candy.

Charmed Cards and Crafts are offering one lucky reader the chance to win 72 Copic markers here. Ends 10th April

Jeanette is offering one lucky follower the chance to win some great Stampin Up sets here. Ends 21st March

A new blog called Stamp With Us is offering Stamping Up blog candy to one lucky reader here. Ends 1st April

All Things I Love are offering the chance to win some Guardian Angel stamps here. Ends March 22nd

Ellie'skeeper Creations has a blog candy giveaway here. Ends March 22nd

Home!!!

2009-03-16T14:05:00.002Z

Arrived home safely, shattered and very happy from my weekend retreat.
Will pop back on later with some stories and photographs however I have added some pictures to my Picassa album which can be linked via my sidebar gallery on the right.

Enjoy for now :-)

Weekend Retreat 13-15th March

2009-03-08T17:51:00.006Z

Fiona and I have organised a weekend retreat at a large mansion near Elgin, Scotland.
We are being joined by several other like minded crafters for a weekend of fun which will hopefully include some crafting!
Here are some pictures of the house we are staying at.

Virtual Tour

Cupcake birthday

2009-02-23T21:24:00.005Z

Made a quick card this evening to give tomorrow. Although it was really quick and simple to make I think it looks quite effective.
The first scalloped cupcake is raised on foam dots and the last one is inside the card.

Materials used:
Junkitz Salsa Circles paper
Stamps by Stamping Up - Birthday Best and Occasional Greetings
Prismacolor pencils - chartreuse, apple green, process red, crimson lake, sunburst yellow
Punch - Stamping Up scallop
Ink -Adirondacks raspberry and Staz-On black
Green ribbon

Sweet Birthday

2009-02-21T20:35:00.006Z

I got two sets of Promarkers this week and made this birthday card today with them.

Think it would be easier to add shading if I had more shades of pens.

Materials used:
Ice Cream Sundae stamp is a paid download from The Pink Petticoat,
Sentiment stamp is from Stamping Up,
Papers are DCWV Sweet collection,
Promarkers in ivory, blush, pastel blue, sky blue and poppy red.
Stickles,
Dotty organza ribbon.

New Home Card

2009-02-15T23:48:00.006Z

I made this card today to give to a friend and her family as they have just moved in to their new house.

Papers used are My Minds Eye - Natural collection.
The template for the large frame was purchased from the Cutting Cafe here.
I printed the New Home sentiment using the "Splendid" font and then stamped a frame around it using Basic Grey stamps.
I stamped and hand cut the flourish and added some flat backed pearls.

Happy Valentine's Day xxx

2009-02-14T21:57:00.004Z

Here are the three cards I made last night.
One for Michael and one for each of my boys.

I copied the large heart card from Tracy Gough. She is unbelievably talented, her card and blog can be viewed here along with details of where to buy the large heart template.

Thanks Tracy for allowing me to copy your design.
x

UKS Whodunnit Cybercrop

2009-02-09T10:20:00.008Z

I have had a fantastic time this weekend joining in with the manic and brilliant cybercrop over on UKS. The classes kicked off at 7pm on Friday and I stayed up till 2.45am (yes AM!) on Saturday morning to complete a layout that I started just after midnight - mad or what!! And I wasn't alone, lots other peeps were up late doing exactly the same.
After a short sleep I was up in the morning ready to go again. There were lots of fantastic classes and between Friday night and Saturday night I managed to take part in four classes.
In the Frame by Artbase

Black and Blue by Ann AKA Anni B

The Mousetrap by Maria AKA Ziggysmammy

The Unexplained by Bubbly Funk

In between the classes were fun challenges, quizes and mystery guests to keep us entertained too. I tried a few quizzes and some of the easier photographic challenges. I did however take part in one layout challenge called Cluedo - our team had two hours (between 10pm and midnight) to come up with a layout - our brief was: Suspect ~ Miss Scarlet, Room ~ Dining Room, Weapon ~ Candlestick. We had to make a red layout featuring a food related photograph and also had to include glitter and glue. As our team won two earlier challenges we also got extra items which were patterened paper and chipboard.

Here is my layout:

Unfortunately I was away for most of Sunday so couldn't do any of Sunday's classes by the deadline however I have printed them off along with the other ones from the weekend to do at a later date.

A big thank you to all those involved in making the cybercrop possible. It takes a tremendous effort to bring us all this. I was part of the Interpol team and although we didn't collect the most points along the way we had a brilliant time. I have made many friends that I hope to keep in touch with. Cal was a fantastic leader too, she was always there for us with her witty sense of humour so thank you Cal too.
x

UKS Cybercrop - Mystery Kit

2009-02-09T10:06:00.010Z

Here is my LO for the Whodunnit mystery kit challenge. The kit was bought from Modscraps. The papers were scrummy and it was a hard decision to cut them up!

The papers are by My Minds Eye - On Target, Proud Print, Lined Up, Masculine Print and Houndstooth. Bazzil Cardstock are - Hazel, Aqua, Bark and Glass Slipper bling. Also included in the kit that I used were rubons, 2 mirror image butterfly embellishments and diamantes.

I used Proud Print for the background and then hand cut a scalloped circle to layer on the top and inked around the edges. I machine sewed inside the circle edge with white thread. I then cut and sanded, to show the white edge, on a few of the other co-ordinating papers and layered these under the photographed, which had been inked around the edges with black ink.

I hand made the various flowers using the MME papers by drawing flower shapes and cutting them out. I then scrunched each one to break the paper fibres and tweaked each one in to a 3D shape and inked with white ink. The flower centres were cut from the patterned paper and CS.

I cut a lace edge on the Glass Slipper CS with a fiskars border punch and adhered under the photo. The scallop border was cut with the SU Scallop edge punch and doodled on with white and black pens.

The swirl behind the large flower cluster was stamped with a flourish stamp and I added the diamantes to it. The large flourish around two sides of the photo was cut from the Houndstooth paper using the Cricut cartridge "Graphically Speaking"

The letters in the title to spell BOYS were stamped using Art Warehouse letter stamps on to CS, hand cut out and then doodled around the edges. ANGELS was made using the rubons supplied in the kit which I put on to white CS and cut aroiund the edges leaving a border. The rest of the title was printed on to white card and cut and inked around.

I was delighted to poll third place in the vote.

My latest Snowmen Additions

2008-12-30T20:01:00.004Z

Pigs must be flying today for two reasons: two blog posts in a day (with photos) and I've completed the UKS weekly challenge (on the second day I might add!! LOL)

The LO also doubles up as the Scrummy Stash Cafe current challenge too as I thought their sketch was great.

Papers used are from the Dasher collection by Basic Grey. The acrylic flourish stamps are by Artemio. Buttons, ribbon etc from my stash collection. The twill is recycled from Art From The Heart packaging!

Snowman Soup

2008-12-30T10:37:00.013Z

After receiving this beautifully presented gift from my friend Kerry on the 23rd I decided at the last minute on Christmas Eve to make 8 jars to give to members of my family on Christmas Day.

It was very hard to track down the jars locally as I think my friend had already cleared the shop's shelves! however I did manage to get from another shop and also survived Tesco on Christmas Eve to get the ingredients.
The stamps I used on the jar top and the tags are a mixture of Art Warehouse by Danelle Johnson and Creative Cafe, all purchased from Just Need It

The ingredients per jar are approximately:
4 heaped tablespoons of dark chocolate chips
8 heaped tablespoons of powdered milk
4 heaped tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa
4 heaped tablespoons of Cafe Mate
3 heaped tablespoons of golden granulated sugar
7 marshmallows

Baby Gabriella Minibook

2008-12-19T19:25:00.009Z

I made a minibook recently for a friend who gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl called Gabriella. I used papers by Basic Grey from the Sugared collection.

This book is similar in style to the one I made for baby Bronte. Both babies mum's are twins! I wanted them each to have a similar book but also for it to be unique.

Here are some pictures of the finished book. I have put all the pictures in to a slide show too.

Christmas House

2008-12-19T13:14:00.010Z

I made this house for a crop challenge to make a Christmas decoration. I was surprised but absolutely thrilled to win first prize too, especially as all the other entries were fantastic.
The house is a blank wooden house from Art From The Heart and the papers used are by Love Elsie, the paint is a cranberry Adirondack paint dabber. It was hard deciding the papers to use, infact the house was painted three times before I decided on non traditional Christmas colours of pink and brown! I went with those colours and papers in the end as they just call out sweeties to me!!

I used icicles from a Tesco tree decoration for around the roof which I attached with DST and then decorated with snow writer and glitter. I cut hearts using the Sizzix primitive hearts die shape and attached in rows. These were then sprayed lightly with adhesive and sprinkled with fine glitter. The window frames were made with chipboard and the paint was crackled to give an aged effect. The door frame was attached with a paper hinge and the bricks around it were painted in pink and glittered too. The brick shapes are the waste chipboard pieces left from cutting the picket fence, again using a Sizzix die. I placed the house on a cake board which I covered in paper and decorated with buttons and paper trees.

2008 Christmas Card

2008-12-13T15:13:00.007Z

Finally got my digital photo card of the boys made this afternoon which I will send to close family and friends. Decided not to print them myself this year and am trying out photobox as they have a Matt option which I prefer. Hopefully they will be here by Tuesday when I can get cracking with mounting them on card etc

I've still to upload the few pages of Shimelle's JYC that I have managed to do and also some other projects I've been working on. I need more hours in a day that or the ability to freeze time!!

Journal Your Christmas by Shimelle

2008-11-26T23:14:00.006Z

Last year I signed up for Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class but in true "me" fashion all I managed to do was print out the prompts! oh and of course file them beautifully. LOL
HOWEVER this year I am more organised and have all my papers and cardstock ready to take part. I have also bought an album specifically for this year and plan to make it similar to the one that Emma made here.
The papers I will be using are the Be Merry collection from My Mind's Eye and also the Holiday Cheer collection by Bo Bunny.

I really hope that I can manage to keep up with most of the prompts from Shimelle as not only do I love the whole atmosphere that surrounds Christmas but there is also so much important family traditions, old and new as well as wonderful memories that I want to record all together in one album that can be shared with my family.
Having four sisters and one brother I am sure you can imagine the wonderful stories and memories that I share with them. I want to record these as well as the more recent memories and traditions that I have started with my two boys.

Pieces of Me Minibook

2008-10-25T16:10:00.010+01:00

I finished this minibook a while ago but have just taken pictures. It is the class I did with Melodee Langworthy at Scrapaganza which was my favourite class.
I am not happy with all the photographs in the minibook as there is a weird metallic finish on the dark spots on some photos, I reprinted quite a few on Canon paper however some photos are still not right. If anyone knows what is causing this then any help is appreciated. It is most annoying when it happens on eyes as it gives a very evil look!!

Materials used are 7Gypsies blank book and their Nottinghill paper. Stamps are by Creative Cafe and Art Warehouse.

Boy's Birthday Card

2008-10-25T16:03:00.003+01:00

Quick card I made this morning using the Sugar Nellie SK8R Boy stamp as my eldest son was off to a party today.
Papers are scraps from my stash and the birthday sentiment is a Blonde Moments stamp.

Christmas card 2008

2008-10-24T17:44:00.007+01:00

At the moment this is the card I am planning on sending this year.
I made 10 last night in 1.5hours so should be reasonably quick. Just depends on whether or not I get bored halfway through making them as to how many I will actually make.
Stamps used are Hung Up for the Holidays and Seasons of Joy both from Stamping Up.

This was the one I made a few days ago which I copied from page 20 of the new catalogue however making the cards A6 in size is more economical.

Blonde Moments Waterfall book

2008-10-23T17:05:00.005+01:00

More Scrapattack projects, this time of the beautiful Waterfall book. I still have to add photographs to mine but I think I will make it about friendships.

Blonde Moments Technique Mirror

2008-10-23T17:01:00.004+01:00

Here are photographs of the mirror I made at a recent Scrapattack event I attended run by Dyan Reaveley.

Blonde Moments ATC Christmas Cards

2008-10-23T16:04:00.007+01:00

Here are photographs of the ATC's I made at the recent Scrapattack weekend run by Dyan Reaveley of Blonde Moments. Dyan showed us how to make them in to Christmas cards. We also got a kit to make a purse/bag for holding the ATC's should we wish to keep them as ATC's. Although I have made mine in to cards I have no intention of giving them way LOL :-)

Colour My World Minibook

2008-10-23T12:18:00.010+01:00

Here are pictures of my finished minibook from the Rusty Pickle class I did at Scrapaganza. Click on each image for a close up view. My apologies for the flash reflection that are in some of the photographs.
ETA: The papers used are Rusty Pickle Pop Star Collection which are all double sided and full of doodles. They are suitable for boy and girl LOs depending on how you use the papers.

UKS Gadget Monkey's Giveaway

2008-10-18T17:41:00.002+01:00

Check out the blog of Linda AKA Gadget Monkey on UKS. She has some amazing projects on her blog and is offering one person the chance to win some beautiful blog candy made with Stamping Up supplies.

My Completed Circle Journal

2008-10-02T20:52:00.001+01:00

I started writing a post and uploading pictures about my circle journal on the 1st September and saved as a draft. I have finally managed to go back and upload all the pictures.Please see the 01 September post here to view it.
Thanks again to the ladies who took part.

My Circle Journal Entries

2008-10-02T17:05:00.030+01:00

Here are the entries I made for the Circle Journal I was part of.

Jane's theme - MY HOME TOWN.

For this entry, I made a double page that also opened out. On the first page I printed a map of Scotland on to acetate that could open. Below it there was a description of Fraserburgh, the town where I live. On the opposite side there is a photograph of Kinnaird Head Lighthouse with a description below it. The left hand side page opens to show photographs of boats in the harbour with the second part of the page showing a picture of the local beach on a pocket. A tag with more information is in the pocket. The right hand side opens to show another photo of the lighthouse and a local landmark called the Wine Tower. The other part of the page tells a local ghost story about a girl and her lover who died at the wine tower.

Cath's theme - The Year You Were Born
I had great fun making these pages about 1971, the year I was born. I was so inspired by this theme that I have decided that when I get a chance I will make a minibook for myself based on this year. I journalled about various things from that year such as tv shows, fashion, films, toys etc. I also included a baby photograph of myself on a small tag.

Heather's theme - Inspirational People

For this theme I chose to journal about J. K. Rowling as she is such an inspiration to many. She has inspired a love for reading in so many children.

Carol's theme - Indulgences

I made a "wheel" using an old CD on the right hand page. It turns to reveal different indulgences that I have..........and of course chocolate and shopping were two!!

Gwyneth's theme - Poems and Quotes

I love the simplicity of chinese proverbs, many of them make me chuckle so I knew instantly what I wanted to do for this theme. I made my own backgrounds for the proverbs by painting and stamping paper with shades of aqua and terracotta paints. I printed the proverbs on to vellum and attached to the backgrounds. Two of the squares were folded origami style and open up to reveal more sayings.

Diane's theme - Memories

I chose to journal about a special family holiday we had in 2006 to Florida with my husband's immediate family. The main photo opens out to reveal hidden journaling.

Jennie's theme - Fairies, Fantasty and Folklore

I really panicked at this theme and didn't have a clue what I was going to choose as my theme let alone make! However it all came together once I started, and ended up being one of my favourite entries as I had so much fun making it. Living on the coast I decided to choose mermaids as my theme. I made the left hand page a canvas building up lots of collage with driftwood, glitter, beads and sparkly mesh. I stamped the mermaid and coloured using pencils. I made her tail with layers of fantasty film and silicone. The right hand page has a shell that I printed on to card and decorated with a mermaid made totally from fantasty film. I printed a piece about Mermaids and folded it up and adhered to the shell so that it unfolded when the shell was opened.

Nina's theme - Rainbow Showers

I was second last to get Nina's CJ and the colours I would have probably picked had already been chosen so I decided to journal about the colour orange. I used techniques that I learned from Dyan Reaveley at Scrapaganza to make little chipboard tiles using orange. I also used four photographs that were predominantly orange. The left hand page was made using ribbons and buttons to represent the sun's rays. I printed on to a quarter circle tag some facts about the colour orange.

Sue's theme - Passions

Well, what else could I journal about but CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!! This ended up being another of my favourite pages. I just love the papers I used.

I had fantastic fun taking part in my first ever circle journal.

I shall leave you with my favourite chinese proverb.
"You can only go halfway in to the darkest forest, then you are coming out the other side.

Baby Girl Minibook

2008-09-20T20:03:00.013+01:00

I made a minibook for a friend who gave birth in June to a gorgeous baby girl called Bronte. I went round today with it and she was over the moon to receive it.
Papers used are from the Basic Grey Sugared collection. The stamps used are mainly by Creative Cafe and Art Warehouse which I purchased from Just Need It. The inspiration for the stamping style that I used came from Melodee Langworthy, whose classes I took at Scrapaganza earlier this year.

CLICK on the slideshow to view all the pages.

Scrapattack September 2008

2008-09-12T20:16:00.017+01:00

Last weekend I attended a scrapattack weekend organised by the Aberdeen Craft Group, Macduff in which Dyan Reaveley from Blonde Moments taught us 6 workshops. A fun filled weekend was had by all.

Dyan was her usual energetic self, she kept everyone at the same pace and explained everything so clearly. We started on Saturday with a SMILE wall hanging made with paper from the Cosmo Cricket Love Notes range. Picture of Dyan's example as my one isn't finished.

Secondly we made a fantastic mini accordian album filled with 7gypsies paper, stickers and assorted metal/fabric embellishments. Again the picture shows Dyan's example.

Our last class on Saturday involved painting with Blonde Moments Pearl Powders to make Christmas ATC's which were added to a background made by blending inks. The ATC's can also be made in to Christmas cards. We also got a handbag kit to take home and make to store the ATC's. Picture of finished ATC's is from Brenda's blog.

By 9.30am on Sunday we were busy painting wooden Christmas trees which we covered with Blonde Moments papers. The trees can have photos added to them however I am working on an idea to turn my one in to an advent tree.

After our very filling Sunday lunch we made a mirror decorated with mosaic tiles. Two tiles were made by triple embossing photos with clear UTEE. The rest were a mix of painting and stamping techniques. When Dyan showed us the melted wax embellishment yet again there was a rush over to her shop!!

Our final class of the weekend was making a gorgeous wooden waterfall book with Blonde Moments orange and pink papers. Picture from Brenda's blog.

Like last year she also brought along part of her shop which was also fantastic - I think many a purse went home a lot lighter! :-) Each time that Dyan showed us a new product there was a stampede over to get the product, it was very funny to witness. Thanks to Brenda for being my runaround and adding things to my basket LOL :-)

I bought loads and loads of stash. :-)

Many thanks also go to the ladies from the Craft Group for the delicious spread of food they laid on. The tables were laden with homebakes on offer all day. At lunchtime there was a choice of three delicious home-made soups, a sandwich bar and if that wasn't enough pavalova, sticky toffee pudding and banoffee flan for desserts.

I am delighted to hear that Dyan is coming back next year for a third time. Dates are likely to be September 5th and 6th, with a possibility of an extra separate journalling class on the Friday too. If you are interested in Scrapattack 2009 then contact Sandra or Sarah.

Two Stars and a Wish Circle Journal

2008-09-01T16:07:00.011+01:00

My circle journal has been returned to me after a very quick 10 months!!
I was overjoyed to open it and view all the amazing entries. I would like to thank all the ladies who have taken part in it, the entries are all fantastic. I am very grateful to you all for sharing a little piece of you with me. I will treasure my CJ and also draw inspiration from the many varied pages.

The original posts that outline my rules etc can be found here.

I am delighted that everyone included interactive elements in their pages, it was great to see so many varied ones.
Here are some pictures from my completed CJ.

The cover and my entry

Sue's entry

Nina's entry

Jennie's entry

Diane's entry

Gwyneth's entry

Carol's entry

Heather's entry

Jane's entry

A special thank you to all the ladies who took part in my CJ. I made lots of good friends over the months and will treasure my first ever CJ always.

Blog Award

2008-08-16T13:32:00.005+01:00

I've received an I Love Your Blog award from one of my teamies, Kevin. He is responsible for my recent addiction to prismacolors and stamped images. See his fabulous creations here.

The rules :-

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog
2. Link the person you received the award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours
5. Leave a message on the girls blogs you have nominated

Here are my nominations.....

1. Kirsty. Not only does she make amazing LOs I find her blog incredibly funny, I just love this girl's humour. Kirsty telephoned me a few days ago to help me with some digi stuff and as she viewed my blog she joked with me wondering where her award from me was. So Kirsty as promised here is your award from me.
2.Dyan Reaveley. Another great blog that I read daily, Dyan is very talented and another one whose humour I love.....pop on over to her blog even if just to see her shoes :)
3.Sarah. This girl has to be the BIA queen, I just LOVE Sarah's minibooks and could spend ages looking at her creations.
4.Karen. My next award goes to the very talented Karen whom I got to know through the Design Collective forum. I love the style of her LOs.
5. Emma. Also known as Sugar Almond, this girl has loads of talent! I just love her style. I also met Emma at scrapaganza in Holland and she was so lovely to speak to.
6. Angela. A Scottish lass like myself, Angela owns the store Angel Craft, which I love to shop at :) I enjoy reading her blog and seeing all her lovely creations.
7. Camilla. This girl makes the most amazing cards, well worth a visit to her blog.

My first stamped cards!

2008-08-14T22:40:00.007+01:00

I have admired cards made with Sugar Nellie stamps and Magnolia stamps for a while and have wanted to make my own. ..............here are the first two I have made.
Thanks go to one of my teamies, Kevin, for sending me the stamped Magnolia image.
I have a collection from him that will keep me busy for a while :)
The Sugar Nellie stamp was from Funky Kits.

Blog Award

2008-07-30T14:53:00.005+01:00

I was awarded this blog awardby Angelique, Lynda and Eleni.

The Rules are...

1. The winner can display this award on their blog.
2. Display a link to the person you have gotten the award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs you like.
4. Set the links to the blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a comment on the blogs you have chosen.

Now to choose my SEVEN .... uhmmmm a tough one!

1. Dawn
2. Elaine
3. Fiona
4. Sarah
5. Teresa
6. Annette
7. Jennie

It's Fun to Have Fun...........

2008-07-13T21:07:00.003+01:00

I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this week's challenge over on UKS and got to scrap another LO for my Florida album and use up some Basic Grey papers that I have been "saving"
The challenge was to use the sketch provided (which I turned 90 degrees, include circles, use Boolean things e.g.[],{},<>,OR,AND,^,&,*,"" and finally to include unusual journalling.
I used papers from the Basic Grey Color Me Silly collection,
Doodlebug glittered chipboard letters,
Polar Bear Press rub-ons,
Epoxy letter stickers (glued on the black buttons)and
Banana Frog stamps.

On The Road Again Mini Album

2008-07-09T14:32:00.008+01:00

I have finished the mini acrylic album that I started at Scrapaganza at the class taught by Lida de Witte. I have added ribbons to my one and included extra rub-ons and stamping inside to suit the photos. As usual with my holiday photos there are a severe shortage of photos of myself and Michael!!

On The Road Again Travel Case

2008-07-05T17:54:00.006+01:00

I have finished the album case which was the first part of the "On The Road Again" class taught by the brilliant Lida De Witte at Scrapaganza. Papers used are from the Static collection by Crate Paper.
I had great fun completing this project and am now working on the mini acrylic album to go inside it.

Scrap Attack with Dyan Reaveley

2008-07-01T20:06:00.003+01:00

Scrapattack is back!
Dyan Reaveley of Blonde Moments/Art From The Heart is coming to the North East of Scotland on 6th and 7th September for another 2 fun-filled days of crafting. I am so excited to be going back!
I attended last years event and also attended Dyan's classes at Scrapaganza in Holland a month ago. She is a great teacher with LOADS of enthusiam and energy. I have said this before but if she could bottle and sell her energy she'd make a fortune! I can't wait to see what she has in store for us and of course I am also looking forward to shopping in her store!
There is a thread on UKS here with the full details.

UKS Team Challenge

2008-06-30T08:19:00.007+01:00

My team "The Glitter Gossips" is hosting this week's challenge over on UKS.

Hi and welcome to the Glitter Gossips’ first weekly challenge!
~This week sees the USA celebrating Independence day on the 4th of July and one of our team members is also moving to America next month.
Therefore we have decided that as part of our challenge we want you to use something American in your layout. This can be an American landmark, an American movie/song as your title, the colours red, white and blue, cowboys/indians, etc
Let your imagination be your guide here! We are looking forward to seeing how you interpret this.
~Sticking with the American theme we also challenge you to use stars or stripes in your layout.
~As we are called the Glitter Gossips it goes without saying that we would like to see you use some glitter and also quotation marks, speech marks or a quote too.
~Sketches are a great way to get the creative juices flowing so as the final part of our challenge we would like you to use the sketch in planning your design.

So to summarise:
Use something American: 5 points
Stars or stripes: 5 points
Use glitter: 5 points
Use quotation marks: 5 points
Use the sketch: 10 points
We are all looking forward to seeing what you come up with so let the Herma sparks fly!!!!!

The sketch

My layout

Karen Burniston's Arch-i-tecture class - Scrapaganza 2008

2008-06-28T13:11:00.010+01:00

This was a great class and very clever - I would never have thought of arching my photographs and making a "floating" title!
Karen Burniston is an ingenious teacher, she sells kits online here.
I didn't want to use the papers provided in the kit (Basic Grey Two Scoops) as I felt that my photographs were too bright. Instead I used Fancy Pants papers from the About a Boy collection which I just LOVE!

Click on the photo for a larger view.

I've been tidying!

2008-06-15T19:05:00.008+01:00

Here's a photo of a layout I made recently. I am a tad late in making it as he started school in 2005! I figured I'd better get a move on as his younger brother starts school in August!!

Papers used are Scenic Route Metropolis, there is a little pocket for holding the "checklist"
Covered chipboard in paint and patterned papers.

Since I came back from Holland I decided to have a good tidy out before I could start on my new projects. I wonder how long it will last!

Scrapaganza Kits and Shopping!

2008-06-14T19:28:00.006+01:00